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Oct. 16, 2002
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia men’s soccer team kicked off the first contest of its seven-game homestand by recording a 5-2 victory over the visiting Liberty Flames in a non-conference match in front of 1,061 spectators at Kl?ckner Stadium. Virginia manufactured four goals in the second period and was aided by a pair of goals by high-scoring forward Alecko Eskandarian (Montvale, N.J./Bergen Catholic) to pace the Cavaliers to their seventh win of the season.
UVa wasted no time getting on the scoreboard and the Cavaliers took an early 1-0 lead just :25 into the match when Jacob LeBlanc (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) sent a pass to Ryan Gibbs (West Chester, Pa./East) before Gibbs sent a cross through the box to a wide open Eskandarian for an open look at the goal. Eskandarian connected and recorded his 16th goal of the season. Virginia would take its 1-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Liberty tied the game at 1-1 just 1:36 into the second period (46:36) when the Flames scored on an own goal by Virginia when a deflected ball went off of a Cavalier defender and into the UVa goal. But Virginia regained the lead just 1:09 later at 47:45 when Eskandarian sent a pass to a streaking Gibbs, and Gibbs tucked the ball into the goal with a one-timer to make it a 2-1 contest. Once again, Liberty tied the game and made the score 2-2 when Michael Zusi sent a cross from the corner after gathering the rebound off of a deflected corner kick, and sent a cross into the box where Chase Perry converted a diving header for a goal.
However, as was the case with the first tie of the match, the second one didn’t last very long either and UVa took the lead for good 2:36 later when Eskandarian scored his second goal of the game (his 17th of the season) at the 56:40 mark. Eskandarian’s goal was set up when Ryan Kelly (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee) fired a shot on goal and the ball bounced away from the keeper and into the box, where Eskandarian one-timed a shot to record the game-winning goal. It was the seventh time this season Eskandarian has scored the game-winning goal and marked the fifth time he recorded the game-winning score for UVa this year. He now has 38 points (17 goals, 4 assists) on the season.
The Cavaliers added a pair of insurance goals to take a 5-2 lead following Eskandarian’s game-winning goal. UVa made it a 4-2 contest at 62:15 when Kelly scored his third goal of the season when the first-year duo of Phillip Long (Wilson, N.C./Hunt) and Paul Johnson (Princeton, N.J./The Hun School of Princeton) recorded assists after sending passes to aid Kelly’s goal. Johnson scored a goal of his own, his first collegiate score, with just :54 remaining in the match when he headed in a ball off of a corner kick from teammate Rob Wright (Virginia Beach, Va./First Colonial) at the 89:06 mark to make the score 5-2
Virginia goalkeeper Brett Mayer-Aschhoff (Charlottesville, Va./Albemarle) recorded his first career win as a goalkeeper by pulling in three saves between the pipes. The Flames’ Patrick Heery tallied seven saves in the loss.
With the victory, Virginia’s record improves to 7-5-0 overall, while the loss drops Liberty’s record to 8-5-1 on the year. UVa is now 11-0-0 all-time against the Flames.
The Cavaliers will return to home action on Sunday, October 20th when UVa hosts the Duke Blue Devils in an Atlantic Coast Conference match. The contest is scheduled to begin at 1:00 PM and will be played at Virginia’s Kl?ckner Stadium. The Flames will return to action on Saturday, October 19th when Liberty hosts Coastal Carolina. The match is scheduled to begin at 12:00 noon and will be played at the Liberty Soccer Field.
Scoring 1 2 FLiberty (8-5-1) 0 2 2Virginia (7-5-0) 1 4 5
Goals: Virginia 5 - Eskandarian (LeBlanc, Gibbs) @ 00:25, Gibbs (Eskandarian) @ 47:45,Eskandarian (unassisted) @ 56:40, Kelly (Long, Johnson) @ 62:15, Johnson (Wright) @ 89:06.Liberty 2 - UVa own goal @ 46:36, Perry (Zusi) @ 54:04.Shots: Virginia - 24, Liberty - 8.Corner Kicks: Virginia - 9, Liberty - 7.Saves: Liberty - 7, Virginia 3.Fouls: Virginia - 22, Liberty - 22.Cautions: Liberty 2 - Godwin, Perry. Virginia 1 - Oliver.Attendance: 1,061.
— UVa —